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CONTEMPORARY
NEW ZEALAND JEWELRY By Marbeth
Schon |
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Avid Gallery |
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CONTEMPORARY
NEW ZEALAND JEWELRY By Marbeth
Schon |
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Avid Gallery |
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| When one thinks of New Zealand's jewelry, two
materials usually come to mind: paua shell and New Zealand green stone.
Paua, (the shell of New Zealand's native abalone) that ranges in color
from turquoise to black and pink, is often set in silver necklaces,
bracelets, earrings, etc., and can be found in tourist shops at modest
prices. Nephrite or Jade, most commonly known in New Zealand as
greenstone or, by Maori (New Zealand's indigenous people), as Pounamu, is the country's" mineral icon."1 To fully appreciate the work of New Zealand's artist/craftsmen, one must first have some understanding of the country's unique combination of European and Pacific Island culture. The Maori language has no separate words for craft, art, and design, (which are experienced as integral to life). Maori people developed a unique art form evolved from highly practical skills. Generations of Maori artisans put these skills to use in making everything from "canoes (waka) to farm tools, weapons, and clothing, in materials derived from plants, wood, stone, animal and bird skins and feathers."2 These natural materials continue to be integral to the work of New Zealand's artist/craftsmen, whether Maori or Pakeha (people of non-Pacific Island heritage). An exhibition in the 1980s titled "Stone Bone & Shell" "profiled the use of indigenous New Zealand materials by Pakeha carvers, sculptors and jewelers." This movement continues to grow and today, "skills have been passed back to non-Pakeha carvers, including artists with Maori and Pacific bloodlines "3 Not unlike the United States and Europe, the work of artist/craftsmen in New Zealand has historically been less visible in museums and fine collections as the work of those who create fine art, i.e., painting and sculpture. After World War II, however, along with the wider acceptance of modern art in Europe and America, the division between crafts and art narrowed and there were more national and international exhibits of pottery, jewelry, weaving, etc. Primitivism (seen in the work of the Cubists and Abstract Expressionists in the fine arts) with it's emotional, cultural, and iconographic references, and functionalism (a tenet of the Bauhaus) became integral to contemporary crafts at that time. This melding of disciplines found "common ground with the visual arts of Maori and Pacific Islanders."4 Helen Shramroth, in her preface to the book 100 New Zealand Craft Artists, states that "The most compelling reason for allowing craft art to merge with fine art and design was to acknowledge the "seamlessness' of these practices within Maori and Pacific Island cultures."5
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Pakeha carver/jeweler Craig McIntosh graduated with a Diploma in Visual Arts in 2002. Since that time he has worked in "Netsuke" (a type of Japanese carving) using bloodstone, New Zealand greenstone (pounamu), and jade. He shows his work at the Avid Gallery and has also exhibited a number of times in Tokyo. |
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| Pakeha carver, Joseph Sheehan is the son of one of New Zealand foremost jade carvers, John Sheehan. Though he learned to carve in his father's workshop, he studied art in many different mediums at the Unitec Institute of Technology where he developed his own distinctive style. He is a now full-time carver with his own studio in Auckland. |
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Maori jeweler Areta Rachael Wilkinson explores her identity through her art which reflects the "relationship between traditional cultures and contemporary society." She states:
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Gold, intrinsically much rarer and more valuable than silver, is used by contemporary artist/jewelers, not as a statement of the wearer's wealth, but for it's color, softness, texture, etc., within an overall design statement. |
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| Joanna Campbell won the Dowse Art Museum Thomas Foundation gold Award in 2002 which gave her the opportunity to create a major piece in 22 karat gold. She is technically very fluent and you can see a close connection to fashion and the clothing industry in her work. She creates bracelets and rings from rolled gold over silver organza. She says, I am interested in exploring the relationship between fabric and metal. This interest creates a constant resource for new design ideas. In 2002, for six months, she was part of the jewelry team responsible for the production of the ornate armor for the samurai costumes in the film The Last Samurai.7 |
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| Dunedin jeweler Blair Smith says, "I see jewelry as a personal statement both for me and the wearer. Important in my work is jewelry's historical role as a symbolic, ritualistic message carrier. I want my pieces to be memorable, emotional, sometimes whimsical, and always wearable."8 |
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Roses are a personal symbol for Auckland jeweler Penelope Barnhill. She processed her grief over the death of a close family member by working in rose motifs as memorials. Barhill
works mostly in sterling silver, but also uses gold for it's color and softness.
She sometimes uses actual plant forms in her jewelry that "break down
against the body, and dry and change in nature." This natural
distortion of the object creates unknown developments that become part of
Barnhill's art. 9 |
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Chilean born, Elsa Evangelina Krasniansky has lived most of her life in New Zealand. She says that "she became interested in jewelry as a form of body adornment signaling cultural identity." She states that she aims to "make work which is totally individual and reflects any sources of inspiration with emphasis in ritual and performance dimensions."10 |
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Internationally known, award winning jeweler, Tatyana Panyoczki was born in Zurich, Switzerland in 1969. Between 1987-1989, she trained as an apprentice in theatrical make-up design and wig making in Lausanne and Geneva, Switzerland. She came to New Zealand in 1993 where she studied three-dimensional design at Unitec in Auckland. "Simplicity and minimalism are key factors in her work - repetitions of a simple form, which are found in everyday life. Observing the way things meet, join, and how they relate to each other is one important source of her inspiration. Tatjana also calls herself an object designer. she pushes and explores the boundaries of jewelry and its connotations - however the relationship to the body will remain."11 |
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| Frances Stachl studied painting at Wanganui Polytechnic and jewelry at Whitireia. She has been exhibiting and selling her work at Avid Gallery since 2000. |
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| Barry Clarke, a versatile artist who was
once a British merchant sailor, settled in New Zealand and became
proficient in a wide variety of media. He is a sculptor, painter,
and an extraordinarily talented artist/jeweler.
He marries gold with silver in subtly beautiful designs with surfaces reminiscent of ancient and Byzantine art. |
Many thanks to Avid
for allowing their collection to be photographed. ___________________________________ |
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1"JEWELLERY: ACCENT ON DESIGN," arrival,
Visitors Guide to New Zealand, pg. 26 2"He Taonga Maori--Maori Treasures," arrival, Visitors Guide to New Zealand, pg. 29 3 http://www.craftvic.asn.au/south/nthisland.htm 4Helen Schamroth, 100New Zealand Craft Artists, pg. x 5Ibid, pg. vii 6 http://www.craftvic.asn.au/south/nthisland.htm 7Biography of Joanna Campbell, courtesy of Avid Gallery 8The First Craft New Zealand Yearbook, pg. 20 9Helen Schamroth, 100New Zealand Craft Artists, #6. 10Elsa Evangelina Krasniansky, Curriculum Vitae 11 http://www.objet.co.nz/Tatjana/TP-profile.htm |
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Article
and photographs by Marbeth Schon and courtesy of Avid Gallery |
